Itching to Race Again

The off-season will soon be over. I am wishing the summer to come faster, although when the summer does come I will again be wishing the winter to come even faster. You can never be happy with the weather here in Fresno, it is either cold and wet, or hot and dry. I think this off-season I may have lost a few thousand cells in the parachutes I call my ears, they catch wind like a sail and manage to almost receive frost-bite by the end of all my winter rides. I am ready for the base miles to end, and the hectic year of traveling and racing constantly to begin.

Early Birds will begin shortly. I will be reunited with most of team once again. I do miss them over the off-season, as they are the people I share many of my laughs with. Hopefully I will see all of the infamous Nor-Cal Pro's out at the Early Birds. Maybe we could manage to get Donut Boy (Rand Miller) racing his bike again, an early season comeback where we could constantly heckle each other, like old times. I look forward to finally racing again. Thanks for the read, hopefully I will get in touch with all my competitors soon.

Jack Maddux

A Season to Remember

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals" -Henry David Thoreau

As the New Year approaches, we reflect on the achievements we have reached in the 2012 season. With 100 wins, 220 podium places, and 451 top ten places this season, we have taken the results, good or bad, and learned from each of them. We also did not take our wins for granted either. I realized that each accomplishment the team achieved, it was not about the jersey we won or the Velo Promo t-shirt we received, but it was due to hard work, teamwork, and talents of the riders.

Team Specialized continues to teach their riders how to become the best cyclists they can be.  In addition, we are also being taught to become “men for others” by giving back to the community. I am looking forward to another season with the team.

-Matt Valencia 

Base Training

Late fall and winter mean base training.  Lots and lots of hours where your coach tells you to go relatively slow (but some how it still makes you sore!) This year my coach has me doing 2, 4 week blocks.  I am in the middle of the 2nd one currently; I will not be sad when it's over.

Learning to manage your time to schedule class, studying, big base hours, finals and of course your social life in college is definitely an important skill.  Training and just going out and riding while you are in college, especially when you live on campus, is a great way to get away from everyone and everything; the stresses of everyday life.

I planned on having a strong fall of racing; collegiate track, MTB and cyclocross.  But I got the illness known commonly as mono.  It only put me back for around 2 weeks of off the bike even though I was extremely sick.  I was planning on having an awesome cyclocross season but this illness hit me the first week of November.  So I was only able to race 4 cyclocross races: the Ft. Collins USGP and Boulder Cup UCI weekends.  As fun as these races were, they were some of the hardest races I have done and doing a few races where I had been competitive would have been nice or at least finishing on the lead lap.

Base is a good time to step back from racing and just go out and ride. You can plan your race schedule and contemplate the next year.  Racing season will come soon enough because the first RMCCC race is March 9.

I have found teams for next year.
Mountain Bike team where I will be racing mostly locally along with Nationals in PA and a few Pro XCT races: The Hometeam (New team for 2013 details to be released very soon) we have a factory sponsorship from Spooky Bikes, a custom fabricator in VT.

Road team is soon to be announced but it is very very likely I will be riding a Specialized bike in 2013.

Dean Haas

"Luck is where the crossroads of opportunity and preparation meet." Seneca 

I'm Melting

“Strength does not come solely from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Gandhi

Winter. Rain. Cold. Maybe some snow depending on where you live. All things that “get in the way” of riding.

Be wet. Be cold. Ride the rollers. The options you have to deal with winter weather.

Think about it though, unlike many other sports, bike races are run rain, shine, 30 degrees or 100 degrees.

So why not layer up, grab a Clif Bar or two and go out and ride? What, are you going to melt from a little water? Riding in the rain can be fun; go places you haven’t gone before because when it’s dry you have “better” places to go to train. Don’t want to have to descend in the wet, but still want to climb, do lots of short hills at threshold. Ride the rollers even; throw on a race DVD (this years Vuelta, Roubaix, or one of the many Eddy Merckx films). Or catch up on your favorite TV shows (I like CSI: NY). If it’s cold, layer up; Squadra makes some very warm long sleeve jerseys if you are lucky enough to have them as your clothing sponsor.

So what’s your excuse for not riding today? If you do a truly epic ride in the rain or snow, it’s a great story to brag about to your friends. Same thing if you’re crazy enough to ride the rollers for longer than an hour and a half or two.

Common this is a tough sport; we do what we love rain, shine, sleet or snow.

- Jason S

Tour de Tucson

A couple weekends ago, I went out to Arizona to participate in the Tour de Tucson. It was a 111 mile ride/race. This was the largest cycling event I have ever done, with over 8,500 people competing. It was interesting because there was such a wide variety of people there. At the front, there were professional racers finishing in about 4 and a quarter hours. Towards the back, there were newer riders who are just trying to finish before nightfall.

I started about 600 riders back. I got in a group of about 50 and we finished in 4 hours and 39 minutes. It was a great opportunity to get in some base miles in and have a good time. It seemed like a logistical nightmare to get all these people through the route safely. The city of Tucson and the race promoters pulled off a miracle in getting everyone in and out of Tucson and through the outskirts safely. We did not even have to stop at a single light for all 111 miles. It was really nice to do this event to get a change of pace from my typical Southern California training routes. I hope to get out there again next year. 

Kyle Torres 

Cyclo Cross Racing

One of my goals for the off season is to have fun. This year I decided to race cross because it is such a entertaining part of cycling. My first race was Folsom Rodeo cross where I broke away with three other riders and held off the pack to the finish. I ended up taking second in the B's, barely keeping up with the leader after I botched the barriers. After the race I practiced barriers all week...I was not going to finish second ever again.

My second race was at the Rodeo grounds in Folsom. In the B's I opened a gap with the winner of the previous cross race where I took second. In a dark section of the course I dropped my chain and it wrapped around my crank arm. By the time I was ready to go again the majority of the field had lapped me. I finished the race and just focused on having fun.

Today was supposed to be my third race of the year, but I came down with Stomach flu last night and did not race. I am happy to report that my teammates who raced did very well.

I am looking forward to my next race in early December where I hope to win my first cross race.

See you on the road,
Jonathan Christensen

The End?

    Yes, this is my last blog as a junior on Team Specialized. When I joined Team Specialized back it 2007 I never knew where it would bring for me, nor the people I would meet along the way. The first 4-5 years I was never the one to win the race. I would usually get dropped, and after the race, I would almost feel this guilt that I was never able to help the team, even for a brief moment. Until I found a fire in my gut that would get me out on rides, not just to say I rode that day, but to go hard, and make myself stronger, for the good of the team.
     These last three years have been a turning point for my cycling. I have been able to get results both for myself, and my teammates. Being able to see a teammate with a big smile on there face, because they got top 3 or even won the race, is what makes racing my bike worth it. I can't believe the amount of progress I've been able to achieve, and I can't wait to race with new teammates next year. As I am aging out of the junior category, and also Team Specialized. I am very thankful for all of the support given throughout the years, by Wyatt, Steve, Fred and everyone else that is apart of making Team Specialized a great team. I would not be who I am today without your help.

Thank you,
     Christopher LaBerge

                                                 MY DAD
   
              My Dad loves racing. In fact my Dad has been around racing all his life, He's raced motocross, go-carts(@ age 4), road race bikes. He tells me all the time of all the racing he's
done he loves watching me race the most. My Dad started me racing BMX at age 7, and
we've raced BMX all over the country. Now he drives me all around the country to road
races.
             My Dad's been saying all year long he needs to get back on his bicycle. So at the
end of this 2012 racing season I finally got my dad back to riding again. Now that most of the
racing is over my Dad and I are starting to do alot of riding together. I can tell he's starting to
have fun with it, he's telling me how he's going to beat some of the guy's we ride with all
he needs is a little more time. I'am glad he's consistently riding everyday. It's good to see him
enjoying himself.
           You know I think we forget how much our Mom's and Dad"s give up so that we can
race. Because if my Dad is not taking me to the races he's working so I can race. So I think
we all need to stop and say a big THANK YOU to all the Mom's and Dad's out there for all
they give up for us. With that I can see my Dad sitting there planning what we need to do so
I can try to win another national title. He really wants me and the Specialized Team to do
great things in 2013. Like I said my Dad really Loves racing.

                                                                  Sean
                                                            PS.      THANK YOU, all you Mom's and Dad's you're the best

6 Years Later

Larry has formed a habit over the past few weeks of finding old pictures from the junior team and posting them to Facebook. Saying that I changed would be an understatement. The first year on the team (AMD - Discovery Channel) the team website had my weight as 87 pounds and I've grown close to a foot. As my final junior season ends I wanted to reflect on the past 6 years.

First photo: Actually racing my bike. It's been why I have been on the team, but probably one of the less import impacts the team has had on me.

Second Photo: I showed up to cherry pie with Larry's bibs for some reason. Luckily another junior had a pair I could use.

I may have joined the team to race my bike, but the friendships and experiences I have had around cycling are what have been the most important. Many of my best friends are teammates would I have traveled with, lived with, and suffered with. We have had to work together under pressure. As the 18s go our separate ways in terms of teams for next year we are always having conference calls to share stories.

The first year on the team I was 13 and we were each assigned a mentor (master teammate would we could ask questions). That was a huge challenge for me. It forced me to practice communicating with adults on my own. I struggled with taking full advantage of the resources the team has to offer for a few year. It was helpful that Team Specialized has the most generous masters. Each one of them has gone out of their way to help me and teach me. They have such a wide array of knowledge both on and off the bike that any question has an answer somewhere in the master team and it's just up to me to find it. This generosity is best exhibited this Summer when Craig Roemer coached us at Nationals and then took me and a few other juniors around Europe to race for 3 weeks.

Finally I want to thank the leadership on the team. Wyatt, Larry, Steve and all the other silent heroes of the team who work endlessly to ensure that each junior teammate can grow as much as I have. They are the motivation for us to preform in races and support who we enjoy sharing our successes with.

quick shout out

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Thank you to every teammate (junior, master, and leader) who has influenced me over the past 6 years. I may be wearing a different jersey next year, but I'm going to continue to soak up as much knowledge as I can from these teammates.

Try Something Different

Greetings,

In late August I started my sophomore year at Upland High as well as my "off-season". I immediately started playing water polo for my high school team as I did last year. I was the starting JV goalie for UHS. My plan has always been to use water polo as a my off-season / cross training sport to stay conditioned. I found that water polo has been really good training for my legs,  lung, and stamina; elements that would help me get a good start to when I get back on the bike. Water polo has also helped me build a strong core due to weight training and lots of swimming each day.



Had fun with my polo team!



During the course of polo and the busy start to school, I began missing my bike and decided to reset my focus once again to my cycling goals. I decided between me, my parents, and coaches (water polo and cycling) that I would continue pre-season water polo and stop playing before league games began. I was fortunate enough to have great support from everyone on this decision and was able to play until the end of September. The timing was good because I felt that was enough to get a solid start on road training for the 2013 season while enjoying some good polo games with the team.



Now here I am...back at it! YES!!

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that it's OK to try something different in your off season and just have fun with it! Like me, I played polo for a couple of months and decided that it was time to start my training again. So, if you're really focused on your cycling or any other activity year round, I suggest trying something different not only to stay physically, mentally, and socially fit but also to not get so bored with the same old thing!

Thanks for reading,

Nick Castellano

2012 Season Fades, the Epic Off-Season Begins

Hey All,

I'm well into my off-season, and I am enjoying the break. This season has been a wonderful one, from winning races myself, to watching my teammates win. The highlight of my year though, would be having the opportunity to ride with the USA National Team in Europe, it was a true privilege. Although I encountered a series of unfortunate events, it did not phase me. This year I will train harder than ever before to make it back again to such a wonderful experience.

I will not be taking time off this year because it was too difficult to get back on the bike and so easy to lose focus. I have been running these last couple weeks to keep my bones strong, and to switch it up a bit. I have also been doing work in the gym trying to strengthen my muscles for more power. Core is something I have also been working on, it's hard but I enjoy it. And of course I am riding my bike, getting all that base endurance time in my legs. I will also be racing cyclocross, hopefully I see some of my fellow racing companions out on the dirt, and thank you to NCCF and Specialized for making the cyclocross possible. Hope all is well with everyone. :-)


Jack

Take Time Off the Bike

After 50 races and 8 months on the bike, it seems like the best thing to do is to take a break from cycling and enjoy some alternative activities that a cyclist can’t normally do during the race season. There are a few reasons, I have been told, to accomplish this goal of not riding my bike for two or three weeks. At the age of 16 it feels like there is no end to the energy, mental stamina, and desire to stay on the bike. But following the advice of family, coaches, and various elite racers, it seems like checking out of the sport for two or three weeks seemed like a good idea. 

So the next question is, what am I going to do for the next couple of weeks? There are a lot of things a 16 year old can do. I was lucky enough, after my last road race at San Ardo, to spend a week at Pismo Beach, 4-wheeling and fishing. It may not sound like a whole lot of activity, but the simple basic idea of putting a worm on a hook and casting out into the surf and catching a fish is not easy as you think. Driving a 4-wheel drive jeep in the Pismo Dunes on the other hand seems natural and easy for me. On the other hand, the simple task of catching a fish became such a challenge for me that for weeks on end it consumed my every thought. Whether surf fishing, casting off of a pier or bridge, using a net to catch bait fish, or buying blood worms, catching a fish is still one of the most challenging, interesting, and time consuming hobbies I have ever done.  I spent many days with my line in the water losing my bait, my tackle, my patience, for many more hours than I ever spent on the bicycle seat on any given day. I really grew to love the simple challenge of catching a fish. I spent many days until the sun went down and longer before going home empty handed. In my prayers I asked God to help me with my fishing. Somehow I sensed he was telling me to stick with cycling, but keep fishing too.

Now that I am back on the bike, my fishing days are over for now, but I know that at the end of next season, I know where I will be and what I’ll be doing. So after weeks off of the bike, I found myself really missing my bike and my training, so I think the break was a good thing for me. I am now preparing to attend the USA Cycling National Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, "ManTour5" (a 6-day bike ride from Santa Rosa to Redondo Beach), and Team Specialized's end-of-the-year BBQ.

Thanks for reading,

Diego Binatena, Team Specialized Junior Racing

THANK YOU!!

What a better way to start a blog than by telling the truth? This is my last Blog posted for Team Specialized as I will not continue to race on the team for 2013. However, I will race for a local team (Eden Bicycles) in hopes of having a great season or two with them, and developing into a great rider and also a great under dog. This year I have experienced many changes. I started my year poorly - lots of things had deep influence in my life but that helped me build character, which is extremely important.  "Its all in you" was the advice I received from teammate Kyle Torres. It was true, confidence is needed in the sport, which is extremely hard, but like a guitar, when all the strings are at the right tension it just sounds great. Or like my dad tells me "when you can get that brain of yours to work you can do great things". And I truly believe that. To conclude this blog I want to thank my old team "TEAM SPECIALIZED RACING" for teaching me a lot about racing, and also a lot about life, it is a super squad. It is a great team, but it was not my fit. As specialized is a good team I also consider myself a good athlete and hope to find luck in my current team "Eden bicycles" which I also want to thank for all their help and support. Finally I want to thank team director Larry Nolan for never doubting my capacity as a rider and always giving me space when needed. And telling me to "keep my feet close to the ground" which I always work on! And is also a team value. Also, a big thanks to my teammates esspecially the graduates. And all the sponsors!

Thanks for having me, I enjoyed the ride!
- Oliver R. R Barajas

Balancing School and Cycling

A friend at school asked me, “How do you it?”  I responded saying, “How do I do what?”  He said, “How do you balance school and cycling?”  To be honest, I had to think about it before I answered; because it’s not just school and cycling I’m balancing, I also work at a bike shop. This year I am a junior at Bellarmine College Prep.  Typically junior year is the hardest year in high school.  I spend many hours studying and doing homework every day; sometimes even working on homework ahead of time so that I can ride for a longer time.  Time management is a key component to my success.  Though managing my time is sometimes difficult, I continue to work on it every day.  Some people have a hard time balancing school and their extracurricular activities, so they  give up on the activity.  Luckily for me, the masters in Team Specialized inspire me to stay focus.  They are all successful cyclists and have great careers. I am fortunate to be on Team Specialized and to have them as our mentors.

Next for me are the BASP cyclocross races and national camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.

See you all on the road!

Matt V

                                                                 

Collegiate Track Nationals

This week I traveled to Frisco, Texas with the Fort Lewis Cycling team for collegiate track nationals. I was the only freshman on the team and this is my first collegiate race, collegiate nationals and first track nationals; that's a lot of firsts. I competed in the individual pursuit 4k, kilo 1k, points race, team pursuit and Italian team sprint. 

The pursuit went well and I was in an early heat. I rode a 5:13 which was good enough for 38th place. I didn't expect this to be my strongest event. One of my collegiate team mates got third by .1 seconds and missed first by .2 seconds. 

The kilo was about the same for me. I rode a 1:12 and I was happy with that time. This race was better for me because it was cooler outside and we were racing under the lights. 

The morning of the next day I had the points race qualifier. It was 15k which is 60 laps and was very fast. I tried taking a lap on the field but I only made it halfway. I missed points the first 2 sprints and the race was neutralized because of a crash on lap 27. I won 5 points on the next sprint and I thought I was in the finals that night. 4 riders took a lap on the field which gave them 20 points. I came in 5th in the final sprint and I missed the finals by 2 spots. Disappointing but there's always next year. But one of our riders won the points race even though he was alone with no team mates!

The team pursuit was in the morning of the final day. We had a strong team lined up. I was our starting rider.  We rode a 1:12 first lap which was too fast and by lap 8 we lost a rider and it started to get really hard. We weren't smooth and we finished with 3 riders. We came in 4th by 0.5 seconds despite how chaotic our race was. This is my first time medaling at nationals, so even though we were kind of disappointed I was happy. 

The Italian team sprint is 6 laps where 2 girls ride a lap each and then 4 laps with one lap each for each guy. We didn't start out fast enough with our girls and we came in 6th even though we rode strong with the men. 

We came in 5th in the team omnium so we medaled again, so I took home 2 medals. Griffin Easter of Ritte on our team was 3rd in the individual omnium so we were very successful at this nationals. I am really enjoying riding and studying in college because it is a lot of fun. 

Dean Haas

Because I Can

I have always been a little perplexed by the whole idea of blogging or facebooking or tweeting or whatever you want to call it. Why on earth would anyone want to spend their precious time to read about me or something I’ve got to say, usually about me. Now I do get it when it comes to impacting the world like it did recently in Egypt or other parts of the Middle East but if I wanted to be entertained by reading something I usually find it more interesting and worthwhile when I pay for it. That said, Larry seems to think there is value to our team in us telling stories that pertain to cycling so if you’re actually going to take time to read this, I’ll do my best to make it tolerable.

This one will only encapsulate the Masters Mountain Bike World Championship I did on Friday as opposed to be about it. It’s really going to be more about something that’s been whirling around inside my head for a few weeks now and, as is usually the case, song lyrics and common sayings become more profound to me when such whirlings happen.

In the last month I’ve been home for a total of seven days. I’ve raced five times but to do so I’ve traveled door-to-door 152 hours and crossed 26 times zones.

Now some might think it’s to win world championships and that would be a good guess but it’s not the real reason. The real reason is because I can. I’ve ridden my bike 365 days a year, year in and year out for the last dozen years. Everyone, bar no one, that hears that thinks I am either crazy or a fool and I guess they wonder why? The simple answer and only one is because I can.

Many years ago my sister-in-law’s mother died of a painful cancer (what cancer isn’t painful) at an age that I believe was much younger than me now. I have never forgotten how I sobbed in my office on the phone when I heard about it. My father-in-law died of prostate cancer at a young age a few years ago. I held him only days before he died and I felt the grapefruit-sized tumors in his abdomen. My wife beat breast cancer twice and lives in fear everyday that she’ll have to do it a third time. The last time, in 2006, she underwent chemotherapy and after the first treatment she got spinal meningitis. So if the cancer wasn’t going to kill her maybe the meningitis would or maybe just leave her paralyzed and in a wheel chair for the rest of her life. Oh yeh, she also had 10 surgeries that year including ones to remove the cancer, two mastectomies, a hysterectomy, an ovarectomy and multiple reconstructive surgeries. While she was going through all this she told me the worst thing about it all was the possibility she would not see her daughters graduate from high school.

A few weeks ago my teammate Chris Lyman gets hit by a car riding his bike and the first paramedic on the scene didn’t think he was going to live. Mick and I visited him in the hospital a week later and it was a sobering experience. He had survived but it was still questionable whether he would walk again. I’m really happy to report he’s on the trainer spinning the cranks with one leg waiting for the other one to heal and apparently using hand cranks to complete his workouts.

I went to South Africa and Brazil for world championships this year. In Pietermaritzburg we would drive past the shanty towns every day. That was another sobering experience. Most of the dwellings were nothing more than cardboard shacks, something you would think homeless people might seek shelter in. The second time we drove by I noticed there were numbers painted on the side walls (if you could call them walls) and realized they were actually postal addresses. These were people’s houses where they live, most likely their entire lives. Now I am not a religious person but the only thing I could think of was ‘there by the grace of God go I’. It also dawned on me that the two bikes I brought to South Africa were worth more than the people that live in these dwellings probably made in their lifetimes.

I guess I am more or less an agnostic in my understanding of the term. I just don’t think my brain is big enough to grasp the complexity of God but for whatever reason, I am eternally thankful that I was born to my parents and not one of those in a shanty town in Pietermaritzburg. It hit home again yesterday as I drove past the barrios of Sao Paulo.

On the plane home today I found myself thinking about the portion of the line in the Jackson Browne song The Pretender, “… get up and do it again. Amen.” As I thought about it, it was the first time I actually focused on the word amen. Yes, amen! Thank goodness I can get up and do it again. Because I can!

Oh yeh, the bike race on Friday. Does it really matter what happened? Not really. Not really.

I finished second but the best part about it was that I did it. Because I can.

Now go buy a book.

Thanks, Rob

So Long 2012

The 2012 season is over. It’s hard to believe, but its true. While I’m sad that there is no more racing left in 2012, I am grateful to be able to give my body a rest. This year was my first year on Team Specialized, and I am amazed at how quickly the year went by. But as they say “time flies when you are having fun” and that’s exactly what this year was… FUN! I enjoyed meeting a good group of new people that share my love and commitment to cycling. From teammates to sponsors, everyone involved with this team loves cycling and the pain, glory, excitement, etc. that comes with it.

Our sponsors have been extremely gracious and I would like to say thank you to Specialized for amazing bikes, SRAM for infallible drivetrains, Zipp for fast wheels, Clif for delicious food, Smith Optics for amazing glasses, Strava for training help, and Squadra for really comfortable clothes. Their amazing equipment allows us to do what we love. I also would like thank the Northern California Cycling Foundation (NCCF) and the founders of the team for funding and running a program where aspiring young cyclists can race as a team, and also continuously learn both about cycling and life.

I look forward to returning to racing in about four months time, stronger and more motivated than ever before.

So here is to a winter spent deep in the pain caves, hating and loving every minute of it.

Thank you Team Specialized for an awesome first year and many more to come.

See you next year,

Jason S

Teamwork makes all the difference

Before coming to Bend I had spent a lot of time trying to get information about the road race course. Lots of time was spent pouring over Strava data, speaking to guys who had raced Cascade and even getting a copy of a rider's GoPro footage from Cascade. All of that research led me to the conclusion that it was all going to come down to the final climb that ended 5 km from the finish. Here is the Strava segment. Larry and I had discussed the race on several occasions and felt that our tactic would be to make sure that nobody got away without somebody from our team and to set a hard tempo up to the final climb. At that point it would be up to me to basically try to ride everybody off my wheel.

Teamwork was going to be very important to our race. Even before the race started Larry loaned me his front Zipp 404 as mine got smashed in my crash and had not been replaced yet. It's cold at 6,000' at 8am and with 20 miles of descending to start we were pretty bundled up. Once we started warming up I took off my wind jacket and stuffed it under my jersey so that I could dump it at the first feed. Larry came up and took it from me so that I wouldn't have to deal with it. Teamwork. Then riders started attacking and Don and Larry took turns covering and chasing people down as appropriate. More teamwork.

After the 2nd feed the race really started as we hit the hills. Larry and Don continued to take turns keeping the race under control. Don covered the last break over the second to last climb and then Larry took over to drive the field and close most of the gap to the break as we hit the bottom of "the climb". Not just teamwork, but total self-sacrifice.

As we got to that final climb I was thinking about a lot of things. I was thinking about how much my legs hurt after the previous day's TT. I was thinking about my rivals who were looking really strong. Including the Boulder Orthopedics guys who I was convinced were letting us do all the work so that they could unleash at the end. I was also thinking that, wow, Don and Larry have done a ton of work to put me in a position to possibly win this race. They were throwing their races away to help me and I did not want to let them down. Yes, I was hurting a bit and yes, my confidence was not at its absolute peak, but my team had done their job and now it was up to me. It is great to be able to sit in like a princess while your team does all the work, but with that comes the responsibility to deliver. There would be no giving up, no excuses. It was time to put up or shut up.

I made my move and got my gap. With a lot of suffering on my part and a bit of “you go. NO, YOU go” in the chasing group behind I held on to win. As I was suffering on that climb I was thinking about what teammate Jason Walker said about making this move. He believed that I could pull this off and that helped.

It felt good to win. It felt good to have teammates who were willing to throw everything that they had into a race to help me win. It felt good to repay their hard work and confidence. But this is what we do. We are focused on somebody from Team Specialized winning the race. It doesn't matter who it is. We throw our lot in behind the rider who we think has the best chance. Just ask defending National Criterium Champion Dean LaBerge who gladly gave his race away to protect teammate Jason Walker as he crushed the field to win solo and take Dean's title for 2012. Dean's comment about that? He had fun thwarting the chase. That is team work. That is how we roll on Team Specialized.

Farewell and Thank You

As my final year as a junior and member of Team Specialized comes to an end, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone that is part of the team for all the support they have given me the past two years. It was such an honor to be chosen for this program. I have made so many great friends that I will stay in contact with for a very long time. I have developed so much as a rider because of the expert advice we get from Larry, Craig, Billy and all the other masters teammates.

I will miss all the fun team trips. I have really great memories of team camps, San Dimas Stage Race, L’Abitibi, and the Tour of Ireland. The first thing I remember about being a part of the team is getting picked up in the team van at the Oakland Airport for our camp at the Smith’s house. Getting in this van, that was all decked out in sponsor logos, made me feel pretty special.

Thank you so much to all the founders of Team Specialized Juniors for making this team possible. Thank you to Larry for being such a positive influence on me and for all the guidance in my cycling career. Thank you to all of the wonderful sponsors for backing up this team.  Being on this team for the past two years has been one of the highlights of my life. I will be on a U-23 team next year and I look forward to seeing all the riders and their families at the races.

Kyle Torres 

Winning: as a family

Two weeks ago was the 2wheel/ Early Bird Women's Criterium (long name) which was hosting the Masters Men Criterium Championship. For me the day started early at Larry Nolan's house. We got up ate breakfast walked out to the van and started driving. Only to have to take a quick stop for Larry's morning Double Gulp, then again to re-tighten Jon's bike after having it almost fall off the van going 50 on the Highway! After those two quick stops we smoothly made it to the race. We got there before most of the race sponsors arrived to set up their tents for the day. I was not preregistered so I first filled out the registration sheet, and handed them the $28ish to race the junior race. The race was 30 minutes long. The race started and the stacked field of four smoothly rolled together for nearly 10 minutes. Until there was a prime, which is where I sprinted to get the prime, and heard the bell for a second prime. I thought to myself, why not keep going? So, I held my pace for a quarter of the lap (1.5 km) and eased off so my competition could catch back up because he was the only 3 bike lengths behind, and I wanted to set myself up to take the prime again. I did, and the two of us (the only 17-18s racing) rotated until the last half a lap. I had already tried to get away a few laps before.  I prepared myself to sit on his wheel until the final 200 meters over the small hill.  As we came around the final corner (400-550 meters) I could see Jon, and his competition going slowly into the chicane. As we rolled into the chicane they were about to come out of the chicane. We were at 250 meters and I knew I needed the inside as we sprinted through the left-right of the chicane. I sprinted and got the left side and crested over the hill and saw Larry on the far left. I slowly drifted to the left so he could get a better picture, and this is how it came out:

I shook my competitors hand, said "good race" and made my way to the finish to see how Jon would do. He ended up getting second my a quarter of a wheel. After results were posted I was reminded that there were still prizes to be picked up. I ended up winning $60, and much more in merchandise. It seems the $28 was worth it. When I got home I looked On face book and found out that my dad finished just in front of Chuck Hutcheson, who is a fierce competitor.

After I heard the result I decided that I should go for a ride to loosen up my legs from racing my heart out at San Ardo Road race the day before, and working hard earlier in the day in the Junior race. I came home and looked at the clock, and realized that the P12s are racing then, and I was anxious to find out the results. After waiting over an hour I did not see anything on Facebook, or Twitter. About 45 minutes later my mom comes home and tells me that my brother James won the P12 race. It took me a while to put the pieces together that all three of us one in the same day. When James got home we said congratulations to each other, and called it a great day!

Thank you for reading,
Christopher LaBerge

Cascade Stage Race & Rapha Northwest Classic Stage Race

Cascade Cycling Classic Stage Race
This would be the biggest stage race I ever competed in with more than 100 riders.
The road race was 72 miles, starting with a descent and ending with a six mile climb. At the start Diego and I bundled up. After the descent I fell off the back of the pack to take mine and Diego's arm warmers, knee warmers, and jackets to the follow car. It was nice to stay warm on the descent without worrying about overheating on the flats.

When we hit the final climb Diego rode near the front and started attacking. The pack immediatly blew up and I paced myself up the climb trying to follow wheels. Coming into the finish I was caught by a large group and finished 49th. Diego charlie horsed with 3k to go and went from being in the front group to having to unclip and losing a minute to the leaders.

In the time trial I set a new PR but still did not finish near the front of the pack. Diego finished 13th with a very fast time. In the Criterium I finished with the same time as the pack, happy that I did not get caught up in one of the crashes. I knew the Circuit race would be the most important stage of the four stages for Diego and I.

The Circuit race was really fun. Diego and I stayed near each other and would help each other out when we could. At one point I was following Diego's wheel up the feed zone hill and when I looked back our small group had gapped the rest of the field. We were brought back but it was a good sign for me because it meant the rest of the field was hurting just as bad as I was. On the last lap I barely suffered over the top of the feedzone hill. I knew if I was going to make it to the finish with the field I would need to start the last hill in the front. We hit the final climb and it was an all out sprint to keep up. I made it over the steep part near the back of the now small field and found myself chasing gaps over the false flat. Eventually the field got away and I chased them to the line to finish about one minute down. I finished mid pack in the GC, much better than last year where I was dropped hard in the road race and circuit race and barely finished top 70.

Diego ended up top 20 in the GC after he attacked on the final climb in the circuit race and got brought back near the finish.

Rapha Stage Race
After Cascade the Lansing family and I headed down to the Northwest Classic Stage Race, sponsored by Rapha and many other generous supporters. The promoters only allowed road bike for the time trial to make it easier for racers travelling long distances. That was okay with Diego and I since we were on the fastest road bikes out there, Specialized road bikes.

Diego won the TT and I took 11th. The field was very competitive and you could tell everybody wanted to win really bad. It was like Nationals with a smaller field of only 35 riders. In the Criterium later in the day everybody attacked us trying to take the yellow jersey from Diego and I. We would not let them take control of the race from us and managed to keep the group together for the most part.

To conserve energy I would do most of my pulls on the technical downhill section. I would bomb the turns and bring my speed into the uphill. Using this technique I was able to use minimal energy while helping the field stay together. The pulls took their toll on me though and in the later part of the race Diego had to do a lot of work to bring back breakaways while I tried to keep up. We definitely gave it our all and walked away from the race still holding onto the jersey...with Diego managing to take 3rd in the criterium at the same time!

The road race was where the competition had the best chance of gaining time on Diego. It was still not a very good chance because Diego was riding like a monster, plus I was dedicated to help Diego win and was ready to give it my all for him. With two laps to go there were two 15-16's with a couple minutes on the field, somehow they got away unnoticed and we only knew there were off when the motorcycle referee notified the field. It was go time.

Diego and I chased hard for a whole lap. Every time I thought I could not keep going I would go harder. Qoutes from Jens Voight were ringing in my head. Near the end of the second lap I had that feeling where your legs are full of lactic acid and you feel like they will not move anymore. "Shut up legs!" I screamed in my head while heading up the base of the final climb. When my legs felt like lead the field came around me and finished off the breakaway, while I floundered off the back.

Despite being by himself the last lap and pulling back a few more breakaway attempts, Diego managed to hang onto the yellow jersey. After a strict diet of pasta, chicken, and other healthy products assigned to us by our professional nutritionist on the trip it was time to celebrate with apple cider and pizza.

Diego and I napped peacefully all the way home while our professional chauffeur drove over the rolling roads of Washington, the long and tiring highways of Oregon and California, and navigated the traffic of L. A, where we finally reached home at the beach house where I would stay thanks to the hospitality of Diego and his parents. Later in the week I would race Brentwood GP, hit up Disney Land, and then fly home to Nor Cal.

Huge thank you to the Lansings for putting up with me for three weeks and for their hospitality, my parents for letting me leave home (and my chores) for three weeks, and Diego for being a great friend.

Thank you for reading,
Jon

Tour de L'abitibi

Back in July I raced the Tour de L'abitibi in Quebec, Canada.  Team Specialized had attended this race as a team in 2010 and 2011.  Instead of racing with Marcus and Kyle in Ireland I went to L'abitibi instead.  The race was 6 days July 16-22.  The race consisted of a very flat and consistently fast 600km of racing.  I raced for a composite team, Mid-Atlantic Development Foundation instead of Team Specialized.

This race was special also because it is my last race as a junior and before starting college August 23rd at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO where I will be racing Collegiate Road and Mountain (starts September 2nd!).  I started racing cyclocross when I was 10 years old and at the time was the youngest age one could enter a sanctioned race.

The race was held in Rouyn Noranda, a new town for the race instead of the usual Amos or Val d'Or.  Each team fields 6 riders and there were several national teams there among Canadian and American Regional teams.  No European teams attended this year but it still was not an easy race.  The race is almost completely dictated on the 9.6km time trial on stage 3.  The race went well the first two days where I had top third finishes on the final 5km circuits into town.  The circuits and I become less of friends and more of enemies as the week progressed as it was riddled with road furniture and potholes.

Stage 3 was the time trial around a lake in town on a bike path.  This is one of my favourite TT's to date because it was technical and fast.  Our director didn't allow us to bring TT bikes so it hindered my performance.  I was in 28th in the TT 44' off the winner.  My aero setup was this: TT helmet, skinsuit, clip on aero-bars and 35mm Roval Carbon wheels.  Where 95% of the other riders were on full TT setups.   10 seconds faster and I would have been in the top 15.

The other stages all finished together for the most part until the last day.  Stage 7 was 50km into town and 10  5km circuits to finish the stage.  2 laps into the circuit race a group went up the road and I tried to bridge across.  I spent over one lap trying to chase on but I couldn't quite make contact with the group, along with being pulled back by Team USA for some reason.  This would have brought me up in GC several spots but I didn't make it.

All and all the race was a good experience and I believe I did the best I could considering the circumstances and the race not playing to my strengths (no climbing!).  I had a lot of fun racing with my Mid-Atlantic team mates and it showed me what being a real pro would be like.  It also capped of a very successful and very fun career as a junior cyclist.

                                              Getting aero on the foam pad in our classroom

                                                                          The team

                                        A true Canadian Meal, my daily dose of Tim Horton's!

                                               Stage 4 50KM circuit race in Malarctic, QC

                 A little customization I did to my Specialized Tarmac SL3 (her name is Jess Gysin) the Canadians                 absolutely loved this!

--Thank you for reading, Dean Haas

                                                      HAVING FUN
      
               In the sport of cycling having fun is very important. I mean sure you have to take this
sport seriously. But whats the point of doing any sport if you're not having fun. Especially when
your a kid like me, oh trust me I take my racing seriously, but I'am having a blast while I'am doing
it. At my age 13 cycling should not be a job, although some day I would Love to race in the Tour
and the one day Classics. And when and if that day comes I need to be willing to make sacrifices
and be willing to train everyday. But you should still make it fun.
            Greg LeMond told me a year ago, kid make cycling as fun as you can make it, it'll become
a job soon enough. So that's what I'am going to do. Believe me I'am still going to race hard and try
to win all the races I can, but if I don't win I'am still going to have fun. After all that's why I started
riding and racing bicycles its fun. I'am lucky I'am on a great team (SPECIALIZED) I have great
teammates. Having them as teammates makes racing all the more fun. So in closing go ride with
your kids,your parents, a friend just go ride its fun and good for you. Besides it's something you
can do the rest of your life. And it's fun. See you next time.

                                                                                           Sean

Any Given Wednesday

      Hi, I recently got back from taking a trip to Europe to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday, and one of the highlights was doing the weekly mass start time trial up Le Alpe D'Huez. For 5 Euros you get a number, a timing chip, and a chance to feel all the pain and glory that comes with climbing one of the most majestic climbs in the world with a bunch of random strangers.
      You show up for the start of the "race" at 10 and instantly see the differences of the types of people that show up. The riders abilities range from the local pros who show up on race wheels and skinsuits, to the tourists who show up just to get the chance to ride up the mountain only known to them as a legend of the Tour De France. As the race starts you get a neutral roll out behind the timing car from the tourism office in Bourg D'Osains for 3 kilometers to the base of the climb. When you hit the base of the climb and the clock on the timing truck emits a loud beep the strong riders instantly ramp the pace up. For the first and hardest kilometer of the climb I was putting out 330 watts which is about what I can hold for 5 minutes. Instantly I knew I wouldn't be able to keep the pace up for the whole climb and neither would the other riders in the group with me so I "sat up" and started to ride my own pace knowing that I should be able to bring back at least a few of the riders who didn't know any better to sit up and ride their own race. Once I recovered a little from the huge energy use from the first kilometer I found my rhythm and started to claw time back from the leaders. Every few kilometers I would catch and drop another rider who had cracked themselves trying to follow the leaders. When I hit the second to last switchback (great thing about Alpe D'Huez is that the switchbacks are numbered in reverse order so you can gauge how far you have left) I started to ramp up the pace with the little extra that I had left. As I crossed the line it wasn't more than 50 meters after that I cramped and came very very close to throwing up, the sign that I gave it my all. When I looked at my Garmin I saw that I had done a 48:50 which loses only 11 minutes to the course record holder Marco Pantani and 6 minutes to the local pro who was the winner on the day. At the end of the day I ended up 7th out of 63 and the best placed junior, which I am very proud about because there were at least 7 or 8 juniors that participated and if you rule out the local pros I was 4th overall.
      So if you are ever near Bourg D'Osains on any given Wednesday you could do worse than to spend 5 Euros to race up one of the most legendary climbs in the world.

Jason Saltzman

p.s. I am also proud to report that I only lost 2 minutes to masters teammate Kevin Metcalfe and am 43rd overall on Strava.

Half Dome

As we move through Summer and near the end of the race season we try to mix up the racing with other activities. As teammates we have spent much of the last 8 months and the past years traveling, riding, and racing together. We form friendship that are both on and off the bike. Last Monday the Laberges and I hiked Half Dome in Yosemite. Chris recently became an Eagle Scout. We have been on the team together for the past 6 years and he has been constantly working towards this goal.

We planned to do Half Dome Monday, but cycling is our passion, so we all raced different criteriums on Sunday and drove up to Yosemite right afterwards. Probably not the best way to recover or prepare for the hike, but that's ok. We arrived at the camp site late on Sunday night and we up and moving before the Sunrise. The hike was hard, but with all the talk of how epic of a journey would be, it was nothing in comparison to most road races. Doing other sports and activities is fun, but it really makes me appreciate cycling.

As the saying goes:
Pic or it didn't happen

or for cyclist:

STRAVA or it didn't happen

Top 10 Reasons Why I Enjoyed the Rapha Northwest Classic Stage Race

10.  Got to spend over two weeks RVing in the North Pacific with my parents, teammate Jonathan Christenson, and my two dogs, “Stinky” and “Foxy”. By week two, Stinky and Foxy owned him! 

9.  Racing in the Cascade Classic Stage Race was a great primer for the Northwest Classic Junior Stage Race. Between races we had a great time white water rafting and inner tubing in the Deutsch River, fishing, and just plain relaxing. 

8.  Racing in the small town of Elma, Washington, which is located 30 miles west of Olympia. Unlike many races that take place in generic industrial parks or bleak deserted roads, the location of this event was awesome! Beautiful open roads, steep challenging climbs, green towering trees, and two gigantic nuclear towers that could be seen from miles away! 

7.  Meeting race promoters Eric Anderson and Jim Brown, two stand up guys for putting on the first all exclusive junior stage race on the West Coast. Over 90 juniors, including several national champions in road, track, and cyclocross came from California, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and Canada to compete.  

6.  Racing under the shadows of the ominous nuclear power plant cooling towers from the never completed nuclear plant. Kinda eerie... 

5.  The Rapha Espresso Bus. Need I say more?  

4.  A great prize list including- Mavic wheels, Schwalbe tires, Giro shoes, Oakley Radars, Rapha swag, great primes, and cash for stage and GC wins.  Plus, a hefty travel incentive for out of state teams. 

3.  Having Jonathan, a great teammate, that sacrificed for me, and who gave it his all for a Team Specialized VICTORY! That’s what you call teamwork! Thanks again, Jonathan! 

2.  Great podium atmosphere, including flowers, prizes, cash, and sparkling apple cider so the winners could shake the bottles and spray the crowds in celebration. 

1.     Winning the 15/16 GC for Team Specialized Junior Racing!

Thanks for reading.

Diego Binatena, Team Specialized Junior Racing